Truffled lobster and spinach pasta

Whoaaaaa, the first new post in forever!!!  Don't get your hopes up, I don't think I'll be adding new recipes all that often, but this was too easy and good to skip.  I was tempted to call it the "8-8-8"... it would be a great dish to impress your significant other with, and I think even Andy could make it.  And while it sounds incredibly luxurious and expensive, the lobster was only $6 (on sale), pasta and butter next to nothing, spinach a couple more $, liquids not much more.  The truffle salt was $10 for an ounce but a little goes a long way!  Making the grand total not much more than $10 for 2 servings, and about less than 20 minutes to prepare (if you can pick a lobster as quickly as she can).

one cooked 8 oz. lobster (a wee lobster is all we get out here - they were advertised as 8 to 10 oz lobster, but wait for it, you'll see my theme here)
8 oz. pasta (I used rotini but I think linguini might be better... or on the opposite end of the spectrum, orzo or macaroni)
8 t. butter (it was more like 3 T. but in keeping with the crazy eights...)
8 oz. spinach
2 T. half and half (cream would be good too)
1 T. white wine
truffle salt to taste (I probably used a scant 1/2 t.)
freshly ground black pepper

1.  Pick the lobster, try to leave the claw meat intact.  Thinly slice the tail.
2.  Begin cooking the pasta.
3.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Wilt the spinach in the butter.
4.  Add the half and half and wine and cook down till it's a somewhat thick, saucy consistency.
5.  Add the lobster and warm.
5.  Drain the pasta and toss with the lobster-spinach, the truffle salt, and the pepper and serve.

Bun' cha ca' (Vietnamese fish and noodle dish)

This recipe is from Thuy, Tin's mom.  It's quite easy, healthy, and above all, tasty.  A lot of the dishes we order at Vietnamese restaurants are somewhat heavy - either in a creamy sauce or friend.  But in this dish, the catfish is in a light marinade and grilled, and the flavors come from herbs and nuoc mam', the typical fish sauce based dipping sauce.  Most of the ingredients should be available at a well-stocked grocery store - the King Soopers near us has everything except the galangal.  Galangal is a root that looks like ginger, but is not as spicy.

There are 5 components to the dish: rice noodles, grilled catfish, sauteed onions and dill, and finally the toppings: nuoc mam' and peanuts.  First, here is the full list of ingredients, separated out by component.  This is about the right amount for 6 people.

1 package thin rice noodles (vermicelli, something that looks like this, 1 pound or 500 g)

4 fillets of catfish (catfish seems to vary dramatically in size, you want about 2 pounds for 6 people)
1 t. turmeric
1/2 inch grated or finely minced galangal (if you can't find any, you could use a smaller amount of ginger or a squeeze of lemon or lime juice - it'll be a little different but that's okay) 
1 T. olive oil

1 large yellow onion
1 large bunch fresh dill

1 T. lemon juice
2 T. sugar
2 T. concentrated nuoc mam' (we have the brand second from the left in this photo)
4 T. water

Roasted unsalted peanuts, slightly crushed

Directions
1.  Start with the catfish: slice the fillets into pieces that are about 1.5 - 2 inches by 4 - 5 inches... this doesn't need to be exact, but try to make the pieces relatively uniform so they cook evenly.
2.  Place the fish in a zip-lock bag with the turmeric, galangal and olive oil and marinate for 1 hour.
3.  While it's marinating, cut up the onions and dill, prepare the nuoc mam', and put a pot of water on the stove to boil for the noodles.   Slice the onion very thinly, and set aside.  Separate the fronds of the dill from the thick stems and slice into 1 inch pieces; set aside separately.
4.  For the nuoc mam', combine the lemon juice, sugar, concentrated nuoc mam', and water in jar and shake.
5.  Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions.
6.  Heat a little olive oil, and sautee the onions until they are softened.  Add the dill and stir for about a minute more, allowing the dill to wilt.
7.  Pre-heat a grill (or broiler), and once the catfish is done marinating, place the pieces on the grill and watch closely.  Depending on how thick the pieces are and how hot your grill is, it may only take a few minutes per side.
8.  Serve!  Put some noodles in your bowl, followed by a piece of fish (or two), veggies, peanuts, and a few spoonfuls of nuoc mam'.

Sphaghetti with fennel, sardines, and parsley

Sorry Matt, it's another sardine recipe.

I can't help it though, sardines are just really good, really healthy, and easy to keep on hand. For this recipe, I experimented with some less expensive larger sardines. They taste good but I did remove the backbone. You can eat the backbone (yay calcium, Andy said "hmm, it tastes like healthy"), in fact it would probably break up into unrecognizable pieces as you are stirring the sauce, but it's a little unappetizing to me so I skipped it. In general, when buying sardines, look for ones that are packed in oil and are not flavored. The "cheapo" ones were packed in vegetable oil of some kind, the more expensive ones in extra virgin olive oil. And really, they are not expensive, I think under $3; it is a relative term.

This recipe is based off of a classic Sicilian pasta that can be found in the Gourmet Cookbook or on Epicurious. The original recipe called for fennel seeds, but I was out so I substituted anise seeds instead. If you chop everything in a food processor this will be a very quick meal!

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 medium to large fennel bulb, chopped. Also chop fronds and reserve separate from the bulb. Discard stalks.
1 medium to large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon anise seeds, crushed
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 can oil packed, unflavored "cheapo" sardines - these are the larger ones that should be cheaper and look like this
1 can oil packed, unflavored "expensive" sardines - Brisling two-row
1/3 cup Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 pound whole wheat spaghetti


1. Bring water to a boil for the pasta.
2. Combine raisins and wine in a bowl.
3. Cook onion, fennel bulb, and anise seeds in oil with salt to taste in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until fennel is tender, about 15 minutes.
4. While the veggies are cooking, toast the pine nuts, then the bread crumbs, in a hot, preferably cast iron, skillet. Be sure to stir frequently lest they burn. Set aside. If desired, a bit more olive oil and salt can be added to the bread crumbs as they toast.
5. Also while the veggies are cooking, cook the pasta, following directions on the package.
6. Drain the "cheapo" sardines. If desired, split the fish pieces in half along the plane of the backbone to access and remove the backbone.
7. Add wine mixture and the "cheapo" sardines, breaking sardines up with a fork, and simmer 1 minute.
8. Drain the "expensive" sardines.
9. When everything is ready (and it's fine if the sauce has to hang out while everything else is being finished), toss the pasta in a large bowl with sauce, remaining "expensive" sardines, fennel fronds, parsley, pine nuts, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper to taste.

Prepared in this way, there was virtually no "fishiness." If you wanted a stronger tasting dish, you could use some of the oil from the sardines in place of the olive oil. Sorry there's no picture of this one!

When you're busy, what do you cook?

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I think I am done recovering from my dissertation proposal induced stress. I have a couple of backlogged recipes coming when I can write them up in the next day or too. But first a question or two.

Do you have go-to meals you make when you are busy/stressed? As much as I love experimental cooking and see it as a stress reliever, when I am really busy or stressed I find my mind doesn't seem to wander enough to want to try new things or make up new recipes. So I make old standbys. Which is really just fine, I don't think of this is a bad thing. And of course, they are quicker meals - pastas, egg-based dishes, salads.

I think my very favorite of this category is pasta with a few veggies (quick cooking, like spinach) and/or herbs, a good amount of olive oil (sometimes butter too), freshly grated parmesan or other hard cheese, maybe some lemon juice/zest if it's around, and a poached or fried egg on top. This also works with rice or potatoes.

What is your favorite 15-20 minute dinner that you make repeatedly? Please comment.

Elk meatballs - with video!

Thanks to Adam, Andy got to go hunting in December. It was his first time, and he loved it! Andy doesn't know how to shoot, but he loved helping Adam stalk the herd of elk, track down the one that was shot, and cut it up and carry it out.



I mostly eat vegetarian and when people ask me why I don't really have a simple answer. It's a combination of things - I just don't love meat and I stopped eating some kinds in high school. Maybe more importantly I don't like the way the industry works. So many resources go into the crops that are used to fatten animals, and then the waste products from the animals pollute water systems. In principle, free-range meats make more sense in regards to those two specific problems, but still, if all the world's population was eating meat, free-range or not, we'd pretty quickly convert our grasslands to desert and/or destroy our water systems. Hunting for your own meat takes the industry out of the equation, and I'm a lot more comfortable with that. In fact in many areas elk are overpopulated due to a lack of predators, so hunting elk is a good thing for the environment. I realize that I do lots of things that are unsustainable, so this is just one battle I choose to fight, at least partly because it's easy for me to do so since I love vegetarian food.

In summary, I'm totally in favor of eating what you hunt, and the elk has been pretty delicious. It's very lean and has a nice sweet taste to it that I previously haven't associated with meats. It has hints of butter, honey, and sweet herbs like thyme or basil. I guess that's what people mean when they say free range, grass-fed meat tastes better. Although, I can't really eat very much or it makes my stomach feel a little weird :)

A few notes on the recipe: I think my favorite part of cooking elk is the smells... maybe you can imagine it by watching the video below! This recipe accentuates some of those flavors I mentioned above by mixing in herbs and sauteeing the meatballs in olive oil - which works well since the elk is so lean - and the aromas are just amazing. The ratio of meatballs to pasta to sauce are a little screwy. This probably makes enough meatballs for at least 8 servings but the pasta is only enough for 4. So if you make this, you'll have some meatballs leftover for sandwiches. Or you can cook a second pound of pasta.




Ingredients
1.5 to 2 pounds ground elk
3 cloves garlic
1/4 c. packed parsley leaves
2 T. fresh thyme
1/3 c. freshly grated parmesan
1/2 c. bread crumbs
2 handfuls Rice Krispies, slightly mashed up in your hand
2 t. salt
freshly ground pepper
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
4 eggs
olive oil
2 jars tomato sauce (I prefer a simple tomato sauce like tomato-basil or marinara, over mushroom or pepper flavored or a spicy, etc.)
1 pound long pasta, such as linguini or sphaghetti
More freshly grated parmesan for serving.

1. Put garlic and herbs in food processor and chop till very fine (or do by hand).
2. Mix together elk, garlic and herbs, parmesan, bread crumbs, Rice Krispies, salt, pepper, and red pepper.
3. Lightly beat the eggs and then incorporate them into the mixture.
4. Form meatballs.
5. Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with olive oil. Heat over medium.
6. When the oil is hot, add the meatballs, but don't crowd the skillet or they will be hard to flip. It'll require cooking in 3 or 4 rounds.
7. Flip when the meatballs are nicely browned. Nicely brown the other side of the meatballs. The goal here isn't to cook the meatballs through, just to brown (because browning reactions are delicious), so it'll only take 2-3 minutes per side.
8. Remove the browned-on-both-sides meatballs to a plate or bowl, and add a bit more olive oil in between each batch.
9. When all the meatballs are done being browned, return them to skillet, and pour in one jar of tomato sauce. Cover, lower heat to very low, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes. This will complete the cooking of the meat, and the meat and tomato flavors will meld together.
10. Cook pasta according to directions, and heat some extra sauce from jar #2 (if it fits in your skillet feel free to just add more there. With all the meatballs, I couldn't fit enough sauce to dress my pasta to my liking.)
11. Serve with more parmesan!

Spaghetti (squash) with smoked salmon and creamy tomato sauce

This is a quick and really tasty dinner. The sauce could be served over pasta instead of spaghetti squash. This is a little (okay a lot) like the recipe I wrote about here, but I think I like it better cause it's more filling due to the cream and fish. You might think smoked salmon in a sauce is weird, but the texture changes when heated. It goes from kind of slimy, salty, and soft to firm and flaky, like cooked fish; and the salty, smoky flavor is imparted on the rest of the sauce. It makes sense, since smoked salmon is essentially preserved, uncooked fish: if you heat it, it cooks and loses some of its juice.

I used a jar of tomatoes from MM Local, a small company in Boulder that cans local Colorado fruits (yes, tomatoes are fruits) in the height of the season and sells them all year long. They were awesome!

P.S. - I am very excited to have 6 followers - thanks guys! I apologize for the lack of pictures lately, I keep forgetting to pull out the camera. Usually, it's cause I'm hungry :)

Serve about 3

2 T. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
a little bit of salt
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
16 oz. jar tomatoes, preferably MM Local tomatoes with basil (you could also use two small cans or 1 large can, it'll still taste good, maybe add a little more cream and/or double the salmon.)
3 oz. (one package) smoked salmon, roughly chopped
about 1/4 c. heavy cream, or to taste (could substitute half and half)
lots of freshly ground pepper
about 1/3 c. chopped fresh herbs, I used mostly parsley with some mint. Basil, rosemary, tarragon, thyme would all be nice. Maybe sage.
1 small package goat cheese for serving at the table

1 medium spaghetti squash (or in my case, 1/2 of an ENORMOUS spaghetti squash, yes, from the CSA)
1.5 T. butter

1. Heat oil in a non-reactive skillet over medium and cook onions with a pinch of salt (remember, a lot of salt will get into the sauce from the fish, so don't put in as much as you usually might), stirring occasionally.
2. Once the onions are starting to caramelize, add in the garlic. Stir for a minute, then add the tomatoes. If using whole tomatoes (like MM Local), break apart with your wooden spoon. Simmer over low heat for a while, about 15 minutes, or till tomatoes have lost some of their acidity.
3. Add in the salmon, cream, pepper (to taste) and a bit more than half of the chopped herbs. Stir for a minute, then kill the heat.

Meanwhile, while the tomatoes are cooking
4. If using spaghetti squash, slice in half, scoop out seeds and place cut sides down in a microwave safe casserole with 1/4 inch water. Microwave for at least 6 minutes, probably more. It's done when you pretty easily dig in with a fork to separate and pull out the strands. If using pasta, just cook according to the direction on the box.
5. Toss the spaghetti squash with the butter and the remaining chopped herbs. Butter is probably not necessary if using pasta.

6. Serve the sauce over the squash, and mix in some goat cheese at the table.